pejorative

²pe·jo·ra·tive

adj
\pi-ˈjȯr-ə-tiv, -ˈjär- also ˈpe-jə-rə-tiv or ˈpē- or -ˌrā- or ˈpej-rə- or ˈpēj-\

Definition of PEJORATIVE

: having negative connotations; especially : tending to disparage or belittle : depreciatory

— pe·jo·ra·tive·ly adverb

Examples of PEJORATIVE

1. a word with pejorative connotations
2. <the reviewer used the pejorative word “versifier” to refer to the writer, whose poems had struck a responsive chord with the general public>
3. Children born with an extra chromosome 21 are healthy, conspicuously happy and destined to live for many years. But they are not considered, in that pejorative word, ‘normal’. —Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
4. The word barbarian was used by the Greeks, to designate an alien, and therefore, by definition, someone inferior in culture to a Hellene. The Romans applied this in the pejorative sense to the people who came to live along the Rhine-Danube frontier. —Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993
5. On occasion they expressed a preference for the terms Latino or Hispanic if that would assist them in escaping from the term Puerto Rican, which became, at times, almost pejorative. —John Hope Franklin, “The Land of Room Enough,” 1981, in Race and History, 1989

Origin of PEJORATIVE

Late Latin pejoratus, past participle of pejorare to make or become worse, from Latin pejor worse; akin to Sanskrit padyate he falls, Latin ped-, pes foot — more at foot

First Known Use: circa 1888

Related to PEJORATIVE

Synonyms: belittling, contemptuous, decrying, degrading, demeaning, denigrative, denigratory, deprecatory, depreciative, depreciatory, derisory, derogative, detractive, disdainful, disparaging, derogatory, scornful, slighting, uncomplimentary

Antonyms: commendatory, complimentary, laudative, laudatory

Related Words: aspersing, calumnious, defamatory, insulting, libelous (or libellous), maligning, slandering, slanderous, vilifying; abusive, opprobrious, scurrilous; catty, cruel, despiteful, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, unkind, virulent; critical, denunciative, denunciatory; acrimonious, bitter, envious, jaundiced, jealous, rancorous, resentful; acrid, caustic, scathing, venomous

Near Antonyms: admiring, adulatory, applauding, approving, friendly, positive; appreciative, respectful; kind, kindhearted, kindly, sympathetic, unmalicious, warm, warmhearted

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Rhymes with PEJORATIVE

restorative